Non-volatile data storage devices, such as embedded flash memory or removable storage cards, have allowed for increased portability of data and software applications. Flash memory devices may enhance data storage density by storing multiple bits in each flash memory cell. For example, flash memory devices provide increased storage density by storing 2 bits per cell, 3 bits per cell, 4 bits per cell, or more. Increasing the number of bits per cell and reducing device feature dimensions may increase a storage density of a memory device.
During operation of a data storage device, the data storage device may store frequently used data, such as data indicative of address translation tables or Flash translation layer mappings, in a volatile memory (e.g., a dynamic random access memory (DRAM)). Including a volatile memory within the data storage device increases size and cost of the data storage device. Instead of using an on-board volatile memory, some data storage devices can temporarily store data at a portion of a memory of an access device, such as a host memory buffer (HMB) of the access device. The data storage device may access the data by reading the data from the HMB. Because the HMB may be a portion of volatile memory that is otherwise used by other processing threads at the access device, occasionally data stored by the data storage device in the HMB may be inadvertently overwritten by a thread being executed at the access device. In order to meet data integrity criteria associated with one or more standards, such as a non-volatile memory standard, the access device or the data storage device may include additional elements dedicated to preserving data integrity. Such additional elements may increase costs of access devices and data storage devices.
In addition to storing data at the portion of the memory of the access device (e.g., at a volatile memory, such as the HMB on a DRAM), the data storage device may store metadata at the portion of memory of the access device. In order to store the metadata at the access device, the metadata is sent via a bus or other interface to the access device. Data and metadata are interleaved at the memory of the access device, and metadata is sent in an individual packet that is separate from the data. Because a size of the metadata may be small (e.g., 8 bytes) as compared to a size of a bus (e.g., 128 byte), sending the metadata as an individual packet may inefficiently use the bus. Inefficient use of the bus may result in more operations (e.g., sending and receiving operations), which increases power consumption of the data storage device.